Snowplow



July 3, 1956 v. A. GUSTAFSON SNOWPLOW Filed Oct. 22, 1952 SNUWPLOW Vernon A. Gustafson, Minneapolis, Minn. Application Qctober 22, 1952, Serial No. 316,164 3 Ciaims. (Cl. 3743) This invention relates to snowplows and more particularly to a blower type of snowplow having a vertical rotor.

It is an important object of the invention to provide for a snowplow having a single vertical rotor which will engage snow in a forwardly projected path and will, at the same time, cut and gather ice as well as packed snow from the surface of a walk or road in the same projected path.

It is a further object to provide for a simple and eflicient snowplate device which requires but a single rotor and bearing, the rotor cooperatively contacting at both vertical and horizontal planes, loose snow, packed snow and ice, and additionally in the same rotary movement, ejecting the material in a smoothly curved path beginning tangentially to the rotor and ending laterally to the snowplow device.

It is a further object of the invention to provide for a simple and trouble-free snowplow device which can be manually operated to clean pathways such as roads and sidewalks to a very close tolerance, the packed snow and ice in close proximity to the pathway being forcibly broken and gathered by the snowplow rotor then ejected from a laterally extending spout.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views and in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of my snowplow with certain of the internal parts shown in dotted line;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of my snowplow with a portion thereof in vertical section to better show the internal structure;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the deflecting portion of the housing taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a detailed view of the bladed portion of the rotor.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, snowplow such as the wheeled mounting frame F which is adapted is of larger dimension for clearing streets and roads, it is understood that it will adapt itself readily to mounting at the fore of vehicles such as tractors and trucks. In the form shown the mounting frame F has wheels which are journaled in axle supports 11 secured in turn to the frame 12. A handle element 13 may be attached securely as by bolts 1 to the frame 12 and conveniently bent in a U-shape as shown in Fig. 1. A source of power such as motor M may be mounted directly upon frame 12 as by bolts 15, said motor having a driving sheave 16 which can impart rotative power to the snowplow attachment.

My invention comprises a snowplow of the rotary blow- 2,752,699 Patented July 3, 1956 extends across side for convenience, extend upplate 17 so as to 23. The lowermost portion of the cutting edges 22 and 23 may bear shoe members 24 and 25 for limiting the clearance of the gathering and deflecting stmcture S with the pathway to be cleared of snow and ice.

At the rear of the gathering and deflecting structure S is disposed deflecting means for particles to take an upward direction and be vertically 27 in the housing S and ultimately ejected in a lateral direction from the spout 26. The details of the curved vane 34 for vertical deflection are shown in Fig. 3.

The bearing assembly B comprises an upstanding member 35 which has an axial bore extending therethrough for receiving rotatably a shaft. The sleeve 35 may contain ball or roller bearings or may simply constitute a sleeve bearing with or without bushings. The upper end is secured and reinforced by brace as by set screws 39 which are threadably positioned through the hub 40.

ticles. Also secured to the hub 40 are vertical blowing and snow engaging blades 43 each having a leading edge 44 which will progressively engage and cut the more loosely formed snow above the packed snow and ice close to the surface of the pathway. The vertical blowing and snow engaging blades 43 further impel the snow and ice particles tangentially into the deflecting means as previously noted. The entire cutting and ejecting means is in driving connection with the motor M as by belt 45 which in the instant case may be given a half turn so as to accommodate the vertically disposed rotor.

Operation In the use and operation of my snowplow the motor M is set in motion so as to cause the rotor to turn in a clockwise direction as viewed from the top in Fig. 1. The housing S is lowered so that the side board corners 24 and 25 will ride directly upon the pathway to be cleared of snow and ice. The corners or shoes 24 and 25 are not to be of such area as to glide over the surface of the snow and ice. They must necessarily be small and sharp edged so as to glide underneath the packed layer of snow and ice which lies close to the pathway. If the corners are sulficiently hard to resist wearing, I prefer to leave them in their natural condition for more easy entering and cutting the packed layer as before noted. Because of the relationship of the rotor with respect to the bottom wall or plate 32 and its leading edge 33, a substantial portion of the orbital area of the rotor extends forwardly of edge 33 and closely overlies the pathway to be cleared. The leading edge 42 of the horizontal cutting blade or bar 41 strikes the packed snow and ice from the side and easily breaks it loose from the surface of the pathway. Even sheets of solid ice can thus be rapidly chiseled and shattered by the horizontal contact of leading edges 42. The deeper and softer snow is progressively contacted by the edges 44 of the vertical cutting blades 43. These blades 43 likewise carry all of the snow and ice particles circularly of the housing and impel them toward the deflecting vane 31 which is the direction of tangential travel, delivering the particles to the second curved vane 34 which, in turn, vertically deflects the particles up into and out of the spout 26.

My snowplow is extremely simple in construction and is peculiarly adapted to the complete removal of the most diflicult type of frozen particles, namely packed snow and ice. It is to be noted further that I accomplish the entire operation with one single rotor unit, the cooperative vertical and horizontal blades accomplishing cutting, slicing and impelling in a simultaneous manner.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a snowplow of the blower type for cleaning a pathway of snow and ice, the combination comprising a generally rectangular housing structure having a top, bottom, side boards and a rear wall, the forward end and a forwardly portion of the bottom being open and unobstructed, a bearing assembly mounted vertically at the top of said housing structure, a rotor journaled within said bearing assembly and extending downwardly into said housing, a driving connection for imparting rotary motion to the rotor, said rotor having blades extending radially at the bottom thereof and providing open spaces between the blades, each blading having a leading cutting edge in close clearance with the bottom of said housing structure for cutting packed snow and ice and an upstanding portion for cutting loose snow and ejecting all the particles of cut snow and ice, the orbital path of the bladed member extending forwardly of the bottom structure and in close clearance with the surface of a pathway.

2. In a snowplow of the blower type for cleaning a pathway of snow and ice, the combination comprising a generally rectangular housing structure having a top, bottom, Sideboards and a rear wall, the forward end and a forwardly portion of the bottom being open and unobstructed, a bearing assembly mounted vertically at the top of said housing structure, a rotor journaled within said bearing assembly and extending downwardly into said housing, a driving connection for imparting rotary motion to the rotor extending upwardly and outwardly of said housing, said rotor having a horizontal cutting blade extending radially at the bottom thereof and in close clearance with the bottom of said housing structure for cutting packed snow and ice with the radial path extending forwardly of the bottom structure, and upstanding blade means secured with said cutting blade radially of said rotor for engaging snow in the forwardly projected path of said plow, for contacting packed snow and ice cut by said cutting blade and for tangentially ejecting the cut snow and ice from the rotor and out of the housing.

3. A snow plow of lateral ejection type comprising a bottom plate terminating forwardly in a leading edge and adapted to closely overlie a surface to be cleaned of snow and ice, a top plate in spaced parallel relation with the bottom plate, side boards coextending between the top and bottom plates at the side edges thereof, an upstanding bearing assembly mounted medially of and secured to the top plate, a horizontal bladed rotor journaled in said bearing assembly and having a substantial portion thereof extending forwardly of said bottom leading edge, said bladed rotor having individual blades presenting a lowermost horizontal edge substantially radially to the axis of said rotor and further having an upstanding vertical vane portion likewise disposed substantially radially to the axis of the rotor, and a driving connection for imparting rotary motion to said bladed rotor so as to contact snow and ice both forwardly and below the rotor, said top and bottom plates having at the rear thereof and therebetween a passageway formed laterally of the direction of travel of the snowplow whereby snow and ice will be cut and picked up by the rotor and discharged laterally from the apparatus.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 144,724 Abbiati Nov. 18, 1873 393,240 lull Nov. 20, 1888 1,588,745 Kear et al. June 15, 1926 1,662,809 Altgilbers Mar. 20, 1928 1,667,445 Smith Apr. 24, 1928 

